Hi everyone! My name is Ashley, and I am a stay at home mom to two girls, Paislee, 3 and Keely, 1. My husband is in the Coast Guard, and is currently stationed at a Coast Guard unit on Camp Lejune. We have been married for five years now and have spent two of those years in Alaska, where Paislee was born, and two in Maine, where we had Keely. We were lucky to get stationed here in 2012, and call North Carolina "home". We were both born and raised in different cities in eastern North Carolina, and we are super excited to get to spend some time here with our girls and introduce them to some of our favorite places that we had as children. Before I met my husband, I attended East Carolina University, where I earned my Bachelors Degree in Communications. I have a love for writing, and a huge passion for being a mom, so I am thrilled to have the opportunity to write about my experiences and exciting moments of this rocky ride that we all call 'Motherhood'.

Jump back to the first part of my tale if you missed what led up to this fungus!

I was NOT expecting that. New tubes-yes. Suctioning drainage grossness-okay. Fungus-not at all.

When I think of fungi, I think filthy, roach crawling, trash everywhere, episode of Hoarders. My house is clean, my KID is clean-both should be fungi free. How in the world did I allow my child’s ear to get so dirty fungi could grow in it? Well, I didn’t. And this fungus had nothing to do with filth, or roaches, it’s actually common for kids with ear issues, like swimmer’s ear, and especially in this area.

Here is a parental science lesson courtesy of my $30.00 ENT specialist co-pay. Our kids get water in their ears from the ocean, pools, bathtub-whatever, but all are bacteria city, regardless of how clean you keep your bathtub. Personally, I’m holding on to a fish poop theory, but that’s just me. Ideally, the ear will drain and dry out, but if your child’s ears aren’t draining properly, the bacteria from the water becomes stagnant in their ear canal, where it’s dark and moist; heaven for bacteria and fungi. What happens when you take antibiotics? You kill some good bacteria off while bad bacteria grows, allowing fungi to flourish. Similar to women getting yeast infections while on antibiotics.

Basically, we fertilized the bacteria all summer with the steroid and gave it an extra push with the strong dose of antibiotics for what I described as an ear infection, hence growing this ear fungus.

The drainage I assumed was from an ear infection was actually from the bacteria/fungus. After I saw Sayle’s fungus in all its glory, I recalled getting a bit of clumpy substance out of his ear, but I thought it was just ear wax. I was really looking at a bit of fungus. Sayle was digging and pulling in his ear because it itched, not because it hurt. I’m certain if we had let it go longer, his ear would have swelled shut and become very painful, but we caught it before it got “that bad.” (Note-“that bad” being subjective, as anything growing in my kid’s ear is “that bad” for me, yet not “bad enough” to be considered “that bad” per the ENT.)

Needless to say, we stopped the antibiotics and steroid drops immediately. Dr. Botros gave us a prescription for Lotrimin drops. Yes, the same stuff you treat athlete’s foot with. He prefaced this with we may have an issue getting this filled; what an understatement! The Wal-Greens pharmacist tech took issue with my husband about it, basically telling him there was no such thing as Lotrimin drops per their computer and our ENT was mistaken. Right-because ENTs just write random prescriptions for made up drugs to treat their patients. We had it special ordered from the Target pharmacy and was questioned whether we should be putting such drops in Sayle’s ears. Right-because SPECIALISTS have no idea what they are talking about.

In conclusion, after 18 zillion ear infections, tubes, blown out/collapsed tubes, and an ear fungus, Sayle can FINALLY hear properly. I wish Lotrimin drops assisted with selective hearing, but that is a separate issue.

What have you found in your child’s ears? I have heard horror stories from friends regarding pearl earrings and Barbie shoes in ears, but nothing has trumped this fungus. Anyone experienced swimmer’s ear?

One Comment on “My Child Has A WHAT In His Ear??????? Part II-The Reaction and Solution”

Brandy
August 19th, 2013 12:26 am

Hi, I also have a son with the same issue. It’s completely mortifying! His ENT cleaned his ears with suction, we have started using ear plugs for swimming and blow drying his ears after baths, but he still has this awful problem! Did your on have tubes when they prescribed the Lotrimin drops? Mine has tubes and I know there are many things you can not use when they have tubes. So I wanted to ask. I am taking him back to the ENT this week …. earlier than the ENT wanted to follow up because my son wants to go

Thanks,
Brandy

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Email (will not be shared, required)

Website

Please enter Captcha code
7 − = four

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

Health News

Scary Season

Since having children I have always dreaded this season. The season of sickness. One of all moms biggest fears….